Once Upon a Dream
by dorkydemigod
Summary: in which Annabeth was dared to kiss a green-eyed stranger just when the fireworks start


She's going to regret this.

Annabeth is _so_ going to regret this.

She's in Disneyland with her friends, it's night time, the fireworks are just about to start, and she did the stupid mistake of telling Piper that she's always wanted to kiss someone in Disneyland with fireworks and Cinderella's castle in the background.

So now Piper dared her to do exactly that – kiss someone just when the fireworks start. And if there's one thing Annabeth hates even more than doing dares, it's backing out of them.

To make matters worse, Piper gets to choose which guy Annabeth gets to ask (and kiss). It's not that Piper has bad taste in men – it's just that Piper, well. She's Piper.

She is _so_ going to regret this.

"Piper, I –"

"I know you're not backing out of this, Annabeth. I _know_ you. Right, Jason? Annabeth won't be backing out of this. _Right_?" Piper turned to her boyfriend, smiling sweetly enough to scare him.

"Uh, yeah," he scratches the back of his neck, trying to avoid Annabeth's glare. "Annabeth doesn't back down." He shoots her an apologetic look before looking away once more.

"What's happening here?" Leo walks up next to Annabeth with a curious glimmer in his eye, licking a Mickey-shaped popsicle.

"Annabeth dreams of kissing someone in Disneyland and we're going to help her fulfill that." Piper beams, practically jumping up and down out of excitement. She starts to sings Once Upon a Dream, which Annabeth doesn't really deem appropriate for the situation.

"Well, you can always kiss me, Annabeth." He spreads his arms wide open, smiling brightly and wagging his eyebrows up and down, his popsicle melting and dripping to the floor.

Before Annabeth can even think of where to hit him – stomach or groin – Piper butts in. "She'll only be kissing a stranger, Leo, and besides – I already know who it'll be."

All eyes turn to her and Piper smirks in response. "Him." She turns slightly to her left and, as subtle as possible, points to a guy. Annabeth's gray eyes follow Piper's finger and she finds herself looking at a black haired guy wearing a blue hoodie, laughing with his friends. Oh, and he's wearing a Nemo hat.

"The one with the Nemo hat?" Annabeth asks just to make sure she and Piper were seeing the same guy. The look in Piper's eyes answered her question. "Are you sure?" Annabeth doesn't get nervous often but, well, asking a complete stranger to kiss her is something to be nervous about.

"Too chicken?" she has the gall to smirk, looking triumphant. "Come on, Annabeth. He looks like a nice guy, and he's pretty okay – slightly unimpressive but he seems like your type." She shrugs. Annabeth tries not to feel offended. "Besides, the Nemo hat is cute."

"Yeah, Annabeth – the dude looks decent. He's even smiling and he has friends so I'm sure he's no axe murderer." Leo adds, not really helping in convincing Annabeth.

"You've got, like, less than 5 minutes before the fireworks start. You got to approach him now." Piper continues, already pushing Annabeth towards the guy and his friends. Leo joins in. Jason, well. Jason's already walking away, trying not to be seen with them. Piper is humming to Once Upon a Dream, and Annabeth would have strangled her if she wasn't struggling from her friends pushing her.

"Wait, guys, come on. Wait, give me a sec –" she stops talking when she bumps into someone's chest (it was a hard, broad chest, Annabeth noticed). She hears the scurrying of footsteps and the hands pressing onto her back disappeared. _Great_.

"Oh, sorry." The guy says, looking at Annabeth with curiosity. She feels her face burn – this is not how she wants her night to go. "Was I in the way?"

"No, no. My friends, they were pushing me and –" Annabeth turns to find her friends all gone, although she's certain they're out there somewhere, looking at her. She runs a hand through her blonde hair and sighs, ignoring the guy's look of confusion. "Hi, I'm Annabeth." She smiles brightly, offering her hand for him to shake.

To say that the guy is confused is an understatement. He reluctantly shakes her hand, eyebrows scrunched up together, and Annabeth can't help but notice that the entire sea was trapped in his eyes – she's slightly entranced by it, but only slightly. "Percy. Hi."

Annabeth likes the name – it was unique. Different. She repeats it in her mind until she realizes that she was taking too long to continue the conversation. "Yeah, okay, so can I, uh, talk to you? For just a while." She glances at Percy's friends, who have been silently watching their encounter, then back at Percy. "Just us."

"Uh, sure." He's still confused, Annabeth can't blame him. Who wouldn't be? "Frank, Hazel, Grover, do you mind, uh, leaving us for a while?"

His friends oblige, just as confused as he is, and one of them – she thinks his name is Grover (he looked like a Grover) – grabbed Percy's Nemo hat off his head and walks away. Percy didn't even have time to react before his friends were gone.

"I liked your hat." Annabeth lamely attempts conversation. Very lamely. She internally flinched.

Is it possible for this man to look even more confused? Not that she can blame him – this whole thing is very perplexing. "Thanks. What do you want?"

"Okay, I understand if you'd want to run away. I would, if I were you, but, see, my friends sort of dared me to kiss someone when the fireworks start and they chose you to be the one I kiss so now here I am, asking if I could kiss you." She says all this without stopping for air, the words merging together that she fears she has to repeat herself. She doesn't want to say that sentence ever again in her entire life.

"W-what? Fireworks? Kissing? Me?" His response may seem stupid, but for once, Annabeth isn't judging. She can see where he's coming from – hell, she put him in this situation. Besides, if there's a better word to describe Percy other than confused, Annabeth would be using it.

She lifts her hands up, palms facing Percy, in an attempt to calm him down. "Yes, I know it seems crazy, and I'd understand if you'd say no to it but, see, I really don't like backing out of dares. It's a pride thing."

Percy takes a couple of seconds before answering. "Sure."

She nearly chokes on her own saliva. "S-sure?" Did she hear that right? He's agreeing to this stupidity?

He blushes, and Annabeth thinks it's cute. He's embarrassed about it too, at least. "Yeah, sure. I wouldn't mind kissing you." His eyes widen when he says this, and if it's possible for his cheeks to redden even more, they did. "Wait, no, that wasn't what I meant. No, I mean, kissing you would be great, I'm sure, but what I mean is that –"

Annabeth's laugh shuts him up, and he eventually laughs, too. The whole situation is funny; if you can look past the awkwardness, that is. "It's okay, Percy. I know what you meant. I think."

"Yeah." He breathed out, running a hand through his hair. He stares a bit too long into Annabeth's eyes before blinking himself out of his seemingly daze. Annabeth snaps out of it, too. He turns to look at Cinderella's castle, and she follows his gaze.

"We've got around a minute before the fireworks start." Annabeth tries to go for casual but the nervousness in her voice can't be hidden.

Percy glances at her before answering. "Yeah, maybe we should uh, get in position?" She can see him physically wince at his word choice. Annabeth hides a smile. He turns towards her, and she mimics his movement. They face each other, only inches apart. She thinks she hears him gulp.

Percy gingerly holds on to Annabeth's wrist and moves her arms so that they encircle his neck. "Is this, uhm, okay?"

"Yeah." Breathing suddenly seems like a difficult task. She isn't sure why. It's just a stupid kiss. (A stupid kiss with a cute boy, but a stupid kiss still.)

He nods before wrapping his arms around Annabeth's waist tentatively. On instinct, she tiptoes so that they're lips can meet easily, and she tightens her hold around his neck slightly. Percy tenses in response.

"I guess that's okay, too?"

Her face heats up and she curses Disneyland for the bright lights they placed around – surely, her face is as red as a tomato, and Percy can see it clearly. "Yeah, it is."

"Awesome."

They stay like that for 6 seconds (Annabeth isn't counting. Nope) before both decide that looking at Cinderella's castle would be a lot less awkward than looking into each other's eyes.

"You think it's going to start soon?" Percy asks, his voice quiet, contrasting against the noise of the crowd around them.

"Excited?" She teases, not thinking it through, regretting it instantly.

He pauses for a while then looks back at her. There's a small, shy smile on his lips, and Annabeth's overcome with an urge to kiss it. Soon, she thinks. "Yeah, I am."

Her breath catches in her throat and she forgets to breathe just when the fireworks start. Percy stares in awe for a split second before lowering his lips slowly down to hers. Annabeth didn't respond at first, slightly in shock, but then she's moving her lips against the soft ones that belong to boy with the sea green eyes.

She can taste chocolate chip. He must have had a cookie recently.

They continue to kiss, Percy's arms tightening around her waist, slightly lifting her up. Annabeth's toes are on the very edge, her wanting to be as close to him as possible. One arm is firmly locked around his neck while her other hand is running through his black hair.

God, his hair is soft.

She's kissing a total stranger and she's enjoying it. It seems wrong but, god, she doesn't want to stop.

It's been a couple seconds and they still haven't pulled away. Their eyes are closed, but they can see a flash go off, directed right at them. The fireworks are still ongoing, but the flash certainly came from a camera. Both of them pause, eyes open, glancing to their side.

There, a few steps away from them, stands Leo, a camera in one hand, and a goofy smile on his face.

"Say cheese, you lovebirds." He takes another picture, and Percy and Annabeth blink a couple times after the flash goes off again. Behind him are Piper and Jason, the former subtly singing "I know you / I walked with you once upon a dream" – making sure to wink at Annabeth whilst doing so – while the latter is grinning widely, as well as Percy's friends, Frank, Hazel, and Grover, who were smiling with only a hint of confusion in their eyes.

"Leo!" Annabeth's lips pull away from Percy and she swears she hears him groan a little. She unlatches herself from him, and he reluctantly unwrap his arms around her. "Quit it!"

"Sorry, were you enjoying yourself, Chase?" He smirks at her, wagging his eyebrows just like before. He takes another picture. "Go on then, sorry to disturb you both." He winks at them before he turns to leave, their friends following after him.

Annabeth and Percy remain silent for a few seconds, faces red, looking anywhere but at each other. She thinks about what could happen next, and it always ends up with them parting ways. She just had one of the most amazing moments in her life, with a cute boy nonetheless, and she realizes that she might never get to see this boy again. She tries to think of ways to not let that happen.

"So," It's Percy who breaks the silence. "That was good."

"Yeah," She clears her throat. "It was. Thanks."

 _Thanks?_ Did she just say thanks? Somebody please, kill her now.

"My pleasure." Percy answers instinctively and his face reddens. "I mean, you're welcome."

Annabeth lets out a short laugh. The conversation is back where it started: awkward. She ransacks her brain for something that will break the tension, but, once again, it's Percy who speaks up.

"So, our friends sort of left us behind." He's rubbing the back of his neck, one hand in his pocket. "I'm getting sort of hungry. Want to grab a bite with me?"

The smile on Annabeth's face is too wide to be normal in this situation, but she doesn't care. She just kissed a random stranger – the whole thing isn't normal at all.

"Sure." she says and Percy grabs her hand and starts leading the way.

Turns out, Annabeth isn't regretting this after all.


End file.
